The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 409: Chris LeMaire on Bleak Week + John Wilson on Beak Week 2026 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 edition of Bleak Week marks the fifth year of the acclaimed series at the American Cinematheque, which now also takes place in other theaters across the nation and the globe. Happily I was able to talk to Chris Lemaire, director of programming at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles and co-founder of Bleak Week, about a few fantastic selections in the ongoing series, including tribute programs for guests Isabelle Huppert and Warwick Thornton, rarities like Letters from a Dead Man and Eureka, and restorations such as Buster and Billie. On the second half of the episode, I was lucky to catch filmmaker John Wilson, co-founder of the Low Cinema in Ridgewood, in the midst of the theater's delightful Beak Week program. Wilson talks about a personal favorite from the bird-centric lineup, a special recent surprise guest, a program of pigeon shorts, and some infrequently screened titles in the lineup. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 408: Tubi programmer Ryan Lavallette on The In-Laws, Magic, 20 Questions, Arlington Road, Scorpio, Captain Ron, Report to the Commissioner, Skinamarink Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Tubi holds a special place among streamers for its free, wildly eclectic selection, and I'm not the only one who goes trawling through its selections to find something different to watch. And so for the latest episode, I had a blast talking with a member of the Tubi programming team, Ryan Lavalette, senior manager of content programming at the streamer. I picked his brain a little about how the Tubi mix is created, and then we chatted about a few movies currently on Tubi that had caught our eye for various reasons: The In-Laws (1979, with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin), Magic (1978, with Anthony Hopkins), 20 Questions (1987), Arlington Road (1999), Scorpio (1973), Captain Ron (1992), Report to the Commissioner (1975), and Skinamarink (2022). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 407: K.J. Relth-Miller on Cannes Classics 2026: La Dérive, The Devils, Report to Mother, Moonlighting, Tilai, The Pelechian Project Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year at the Cannes Film Festival I always make sure to scrutinize the Cannes Classics line-up of restorations, and for the 2026 edition, I was happy once again to catch up with K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles and chat about a few titles. Among the films discussed were an absolute discovery, La Dérive (1964, directed by Paula Delsol), Ken Russell's one and only The Devils (1971), another discovery Report to Mother (1986, John Abraham), Moonlighting (1982, Jerzy Skolimowski), and Tilai (1990, Idrissa Ouédraogo), with shout-outs to The Pelechian Project (1966-1975, a collection of shorts by Armenia's Artavazd Peleshian) and Taiwanese classic The Dull Ice Flower (1989, Li Kao Yang). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 406: Manohla Dargis on Cannes 2026 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Cannes Film Festival drew to a close, I was fortunate again to sit down with Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times, for our annual Cannes finale. The films discussed included titles that hadn't been addressed yet on the podcast, as well as some that had. Throughout, Dargis shares her thoughts on this year's edition of the festival in a historical context. Please note that the episode was recorded before the awards ceremony. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 405: Justin Chang on Cannes 2026: All of a Sudden, The Samurai and the Prisoner, Coward, Fjord Redux Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I sat down with Justin Chang of The New Yorker for a chat about a few films we had missed to talk about. Among the titles discussed are All of a Sudden (directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi), The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Coward (Lukas Dhont), and Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), which at the time of recording had not yet won the Palme d'Or. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 404: Jessica Kiang on Cannes 2026: Sheep in the Box, The Dreamed Adventure, Too Many Beasts, The Unknown, La Perra, Colony Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I sat down with Jessica Kiang of Variety and the Berlinale for our customary epic pod by the light of French Riviera sun. Among the films discussed were Sheep in the Box (directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda), The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach), Too Many Beasts (Sarah Arnold), The Unknown (Arthur Harari), La Perra (Dominga Sotomayor), and Colony (Yeon Sang-ho), plus a final word on her levitatingly good absolute favorite of the festival. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 403: Nick Davis on Cannes 2026: The Dreamed Adventure, Red Rocks, A Man of His Time, Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building, Flesh and Fuel Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I joyfully reunited with Nick Davis, a professor in the Department of English at Northwestern, an associate programmer with the Chicago International Film Festival, and longtime critical colleague. Among the films discussed at a late but alert hour: The Dreamed Adventure (directed by Valeska Grisebach), Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont), A Man of His Time (Emmanuel Marre), Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building (Bruno Santamaría Razo), and Flesh and Fuel (Pierre Le Gall). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 402: Keva York on Cannes 2026: The Unknown, Everytime, Libertad Doble Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I chatted with Keva York, a past guest on the podcast who was filing pieces from Cannes for Filmmaker and n+1 magazine. We discussed a few differently entrancing films from this year's edition: The Unknown (directed by Arthur Harari, starring Léa Seydoux), Everytime (Sandra Wollner), and Libertad Doble (Lisandro Alonso). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 401: Robert Daniels on Cannes 2026: Ben'Imana, A Man of His Time, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Clarissa Redux Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I caught Robert Daniels, New York Times critic and associate editor of RogerEbert.Com, just before he was wrapping up his festival visit. Among the films discussed were later Camera d'Or winner Ben'Imana (directed by Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo), A Man of His Time (Emmanuel Marré, winner of Best Screenplay), I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard), and festival sensation Clarissa (Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 400: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2026: Paper Tiger, Bola Negra, 9 Temples to Heaven, Thank You for Coming Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was happy to chat once again with Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center. Among the films discussed were Paper Tiger (directed by James Gray, discussed with perhaps evident New York homesickness?), Bola Negra (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi), 9 Temples to Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse), and Thank You for Coming (Alain Cavalier), plus an additional pick by Mr Hynes. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 399: Guy Lodge on Cannes 2026: The Man I Love, Bitter Christmas, A Woman's Life Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was delighted to sit down with Guy Lodge of Variety. Among the latest premieres discussed were a trio of Competition titles: The Man I Love (directed by Ira Sachs), Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar), and A Woman's Life (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet), plus a couple of shout-outs to films in the sidebar programs. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 398: Chloe Lizotte on Cannes 2026: Minotaur, Fjord, Full Phil and Tim Heidecker, Hope Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was delighted to sit down with Chloe Lizotte, Filmmaker Magazine's Content Director. Among the latest premieres discussed were, oddly enough, a succession of mostly one-word titles: Minotaur (directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev), Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux), and Hope (Na Hong-jin). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 397: Mark Asch on Cannes 2026: Diary of a Chambermaid, Moulin, ACID Highlights including Detention, Gabin Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in full effect, I sat down for a chat with series regular Mark Asch, who is filing from Cannes for a number of publications. The films discussed include: Diary of a Chambermaid (directed by Radu Jude), Moulin (Laszlo Nemes), Gabin (Maxence Voiseux), and highlights from the ACID independent program including Detention (Guillaume Massart), Lying Twice, Dying Thrice (Karim Lakzadeh), and Into the Jaws of the Ogre (Mahsa Karampour). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 396: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2026: Club Kid, The Beloved (El Ser Querido), Clarissa, Propeller One-Way Night Coach Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in full effect, I sat down again with Eric Hynes, critic and director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. First we discussed two very different Competition titles about parent-child entanglements: Club Kid (directed, written by, and starring Jordan Firstman) and The Beloved (aka El Ser Querido, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, starring Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo). Then we exchanged films that only one of us had seen: Clarissa, from Directors' Fortnight, a Mrs. Dalloway adaptation directed by Arie & Chuko Esiri; and then John Travolta's directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Subscribe/follow for more on the latest movies premiering at Cannes! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 395: Jonathan Romney on Cannes 2026: All of a Sudden (Soudain), Gentle Monster, John Lennon the Last Interview Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is underway, and I sat down with regular guest Jonathan Romney, who is filing as usual for Screen Daily. We couldn't resist exchanging first (and differing) impressions of a few freshly premiered films: the much-anticipated new feature from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, All of a Sudden, plus the harrowing Gentle Monster from the director of Corsage, Marie Kreutzer, and finally the inventive new documentary John Lennon: The Last Interview from Steven Soderbergh, using an interview recorded just hours before Lennon's assassination. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 394: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2026: Fatherland, Parallel Tales, In Waves, The Match Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is underway, and I was delighted to sit down with Eric Hynes, critic and director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. We discussed a few titles from the first days of the festival: Fatherland (directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, starring Sandra Hüller and Hans Zischler), Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Adam Bessa), In Waves (Phuong Mai Nguyen), and the 1986 World Cup documentary The Match (Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco). Subscribe for more to keep up with the latest premieres from Cannes! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 393: Jordan Cronk on Cannes 2026: Directors' Fortnight Preview, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Nagi Notes, Butterfly Jam, plus Play-Doc retro + Jeonju Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, I'm very happy to start the big show with Jordan Cronk, critic and programmer. We discussed a few films from the first big day of programming: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (directed by Jane Schoenbrun, starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder), Nagi Notes (Koji Fukada), and Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov, starring Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough, Harry Messing). But I was also treated to a preview of Directors' Fortnight, the Cannes showcase where Cronk is also a program advisor, and which this year includes films by Radu Jude, Alain Cavalier, Dominga Sotomayor, Lisandro Alonso, longtime Apichatpong Weerasethakul collaborato Sompot Chidgasornpongse, and Bruno Dumont. But that's not all! Cronk also shares his visits to two festivals just before Cannes: Play-Doc in Galicia, where he saw a very intriguing retrospective, Spain, and the Jeonju International Film Festival in Jeonju, South Korea. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 392: Ildiko Enyedi on her new film Silent Friend, tree time, the everlasting serenity of Tony Leung, and theories of consciousness Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Silent Friend is the latest feature from filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the 2017 Berlinale and was an Oscar nominee. Like the Hungarian director's debut feature, My Twentieth Century (1989), Silent Friend is her latest ambitious work, spanning three time periods: 1908, when the first female student at a German university attempts to begin her studies; 1972, when a student finds the activities of a geranium far more intriguing than protests; and 2020, when a visiting professor (played by Tony Leung) conducts experiments around plant consciousness. What ties the eras together is a giant, beautiful gingko tree, in a film that's equally a work of ideas, sensuous textures, and youthful experience. I had the pleasure of chatting with Enyedi during her visit to New York for the release of Silent Friend, and the conversation fairly quickly went into the realm of deep tree thoughts. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 391: Michael Lee Nirenberg on Cinematic Immunity, his new oral history about New York filmmaking crews Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I go behind the scenes with filmmaker and author Michael Lee Nirenberg, whose new book Cinematic Immunity is an oral history of New York filmmaking of a different sort. Rather than directors or screenwriters, Nirenberg interviewed crew members across departments—and decades—to recount the making of movies like The French Connection and Do the Right Thing, shows like Pee-Wee's Playhouse and The Sopranos, and generally the ethos of working with Sidney Lumet or Spike Lee. As our conversation demonstrates, we were able to delve into stories and anecdotes that offer different perspectives and angles on film culture and the esprit de corps of studio filmmaking. “Cinematic Immunity: An Oral History of New York Filmmaking As Told by the Crews That Got the Shot” is available for purchase online and in bookstores. Also, the Frank Perry film that's mentioned, Last Summer (1969), is screening on May 3 at the Paris Theater. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 390: James N. Kienitz Wilkins on The Misconceived Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Destined to be one of my favorite movies of 2026, The Misconceived is the latest feature from James N. Kienitz Wilkins, a filmmaker who's always boldly playing with film form, ideas around authenticity and class, and how we talk about cinema. The Misconceived centers on a carpenter, Tyler, who once wanted to be a filmmaker and whom we now join renovating the country cabin of a college classmate, Tobin, who has found success as an artist. On paper it's an "indie drama" of class tensions and resentments—but it's filmed using motion capture, a computer graphics game engine, and naturalistic, scathingly funny dialogue streaked with savvy movie and critical references. I was delighted to speak with Wilkins about The Misconceived, the benefits of motion capture, the post-2016 political morass, cinephilia, and much more. The Misconceived opens the First Look 2026 at the Museum of the Moving Image (which runs April 23 to May 3) and then plays at Anthology Film Archives in May. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 389: Amy Taubin on The Christophers, Ken Jacobs Tributes, Kontinental 25, her New Directors pick, Elvira Notari, Crimson Gold, plus Fiume o Morte! Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It's Amy Taubin Time! I'm delighted to share another conversation with Amy Taubin, covering new releases and repertory selections. Among the new films included are The Christophers (directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel), Kontinental 25 (Radu Jude), Fiume o Morte! (Ivan Bezinovic), and from New Directors New Films 2025, Chronovisor (Kevin Walker and Jack Auen). Taubin also discusses the city-wide tribute to the late Ken Jacobs, aka The Whole Shebang, screening across New York, as well as a documentary about pioneering filmmaker Elvira Notari. Plus, as some cultural counterprogramming to the news: we revisit a pivotal Jafar Panahi film from the 2000s, Crimson Gold. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 388: Margaret Barton-Fumo on Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, Breaking Glass, Paying for It, 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple, plus early Mira Nair Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week, friend of the pod Margaret Barton-Fumo returns to talk about her recent writing on music-related movies. A critic and the host of the show No Pussyfooting on East Village Radio, she's been writing booklets for Fun City Editions as well as contrib, and this time she brings a pair of movies about young female singers who suddenly capture the imagination of the public: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982, directed by Lou Adler) and Breaking Glass (1980, directed by Brian Gibson). Then she talks about some recent viewing: 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple (directed by Nia DaCosta), and the Canadian independent film Paying for It (directed by Sook-Yin Lee, adapting graphic memoir by Chester Brown). And I chime in with my recent viewing of Mira Nair's early documentary So Far from India (1983). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 387: Clyde Folley on VHS Forever: Videoheaven, 52 Pick-Up, Re-Wind, The Big Hit, Clerks, Ring, Lost Highway Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week Clyde Folley comes back the podcast to talk about the VHS series he programmed on the Criterion Channel: VHS Forever! (Exclamation point mine.) The selected movies feature video stores or video-recording or anything related to VHS culture, spanning the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—and culminating in Alex Ross Perry's comprehensive video essay Videoheaven (which Folley also edited). Titles we discuss include: 52 Pick-Up (directed by John Frankenheimer), Re-Wind (Hisayasu Sato), The Big Hit (Kirk Wong), Ring (Hideo Nakata), Clerks (Kevin Smith), Lost Highway (David Lynch), and of course Videoheaven and its making. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 386: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Christian Petzold's latest film, Miroirs No. 3, comes to theaters on March 20 with the story of a young pianist, Laura (Paula Beer), who starts her life over unexpectedly when an older woman finds her by the side of the road and welcomes her into her family. I'll leave the plot outline at that—but when I sat down with Petzold last year at the New York Film Festival, he was eager to talk about how he thinks through narrative and how Laura's tale echoes the destructive upheavals of history. I was also able to talk about cinematic echoes in Miroirs with the director of, most recently, Afire as well as Phoenix, Transit, and Barbara, who continues to tell beguiling stories about people reconstructing who they are. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 385: Patrick Dahl on People's Park, Remember My Name, Margaret, The Pigeon Tunnel Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It's my great pleasure to work on Screen Slate's annual year-end poll, pulling together people's ballots and Favorite First Viewings—movies they saw for the first time that year. A favorite Screen Slate critic of mine is Patrick Dahl, who's not just a regular contributor, he's the first to write for Screen Slate besides its founder/editor Jon Dieringer. So I was delighted to welcome Patrick to The Last Thing I Saw for the first time to talk about movies from his most recent Favorite First Viewings list at Screen Slate. Among the titles we discuss are People's Park (J.P. Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn, 2012), Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph, 1978), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011), and The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris, 2023). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 384: Eric Hynes on Chronicles of a Siege, Yo Love Is a Rebellious Bird, Soumsoum the Night of the Stars, Dao, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the end of this year's edition of the Berlinale, I talked with curator Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center about a few films that screened later in the schedule and therefore might be overlooked. Titles discussed include Chronicles of a Siege, Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever, and my guest's absolute highlight, Dao (Alain Gomis). As a small programming note, this episode was recorded last month. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 383: Oliver Laxe on Sirat Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In Sirat, director Oliver Laxe tells the story of a father searching for his daughter with his young son's help. But the milieu isn't what one might expect: a desert rave scene in an unidentified country in a world plunged into disarray and war. Premiered in Cannes last year and still in U.S. cinemas, Sirat's visceral, spiritual journey joins together the father (Sergi Lopez) with a motley crew of ravers rumbling into the desert and running into a tragedy that tends to catch audiences off guard. I spoke with Laxe recently about the film, which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature alongside It Was Just an Accident (directed by Jafar Panahi), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), and The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 382: Berlin 2026 – Bilge Ebiri on Mouse, Moscas (Flies), Everybody Digs Bill Evans Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale concluded its second week, I continued my series covering the film highlights. This time I sat down with Bilge Ebiri of Vulture and New York Magazine, who was making his first visit to this festival. Among the titles discussed were Moscas (aka Flies, directed by Fernando Eimbcke), Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson), and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Grant Gee). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 381: Berlin 2026 – Rachel Pronger on The Blood Countess, No Good Men, The Radu Jude Short, The Fabulous Time Machine, The Cruel Woman Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale enters its second week, I continue my series covering the highlights. This time I welcome a new guest to the podcast, Rachel Pronger, critic and co-founder of Invisible Women, an archive activist feminist film collective which champions historic work by women and marginalized gender filmmakers through curation, events, and editorial. We began with a revival selection from the festival's Teddy 40 anniversary series, Seduction: The Cruel Woman, co-directed by Elfi Mikesch and Monika Treut. Then we discuss premieres from across the festival: The Blood Countess (directed by Ulrike Ottinger, from Berlinale Special Gala), the opening film No Good Men (Shahrbanoo Sadat), The Fabulous Time Machine (Eliza Capai and Daniel Grinspum, from Generation Kplus), Crocodile (The Critics and Pietra Brettkelly) and a new short film from Radu Jude, Plan Contraplan (from Shorts Program 4). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 380: Berlin 2026 – Jonathan Romney on My Wife Cries, 17, Safe Exit, Chronicles from the Siege Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale enters its second week, I continue my series of episodes covering the highlights. This time I sit down with Jonathan Romney, who is contributing as usual to Screen and the Observer. Titles discussed include: My Wife Cries (aka Meine Frau Weint, directed by Angela Schanelec), 17 (Kosara Mitic), Safe Exit (Mohammed Hammad), and Chronicles from the Siege (Abdallah Alkhatib). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 379: Berlin 2026 – Guy Lodge on Queen at Sea, We Are All Strangers, Nina Roza, Forest High Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale continues, I continue my series of episodes covering the highlights. This time I sit down with Variety critic Guy Lodge. Titles discussed include: the freshly screened Queen at Sea (directed by Lance Hammer, starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay), We Are All Strangers (Anthony Chen), Nina Roza (Geneviève Dulude-De Celles), and Forest High (Manon Coubia). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 378: Berlin 2026 with Jordan Cronk – Rose, Everything Else Is Noise, Dust, Doggerland, Tristan Forever Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale continues, I continue my series of episodes covering highlights. This time I sit down with critic and curator Jordan Cronk, founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles, and we certainly made the most of our time! Titles discussed hail from across the festival's sections (Competition, Panorama, Forum) and include: Rose (directed by Markus Schleinzer), Dust (Anke Blondé), Everything Else Is Noise (Nicolas Pereda), Doggerland (Kim Ekberg), and Tristan Forever (Tobias Nölle and Loran Bonnardot). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 377: Berlin 2026 – David Hudson on Rosebush Pruning, Red Hangar, Dao, plus a word for Mouse Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Berlin international film festival has kicked off, and to kick things off in suitable fashion, I sat down with the one and only David Hudson, who writes the indispensable Daily column for Criterion's Current. We chatted about the latest edition of the festival and discussed a few films in particular, including Dao (directed by Alain Gomis), Rosebush Pruning (Karim Ainouz), and Red Hangar (Juan Pablo Sallato), while I put in an early word for the very fine Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson). Stay tuned for more! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 376: Michael Koresky on the 2001 series at MOMI – A.I., Our Song, Mulholland Drive, Burnt Money, Atanarjuat, Fat Girl, Moulin Rouge, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The year 2001 was pivotal in cinema and the world, and Museum of the Moving Image's series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” has arrived to showcase the incredible new wok released in that year. I rang up Michael Koresky, senior curator of film at MOMI and Reverse Shot co-chief, to talk about a few selections, many of which were also formative screenings for each of us. Titles discussed include: A.I. (directed by Steven Spielberg), Our Song (Jim McKay), Mulholland Drive (Lynch), Burnt Money (Marcelo Piñeyro), Atanarjuat (Zacharias Kunuk), Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat), Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann), Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), All About Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai), and In Praise of Love (Godard). The film series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” runs February 14 through April 11 at Museum of the Moving Image. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 375: Metrograph editors Annabel Brady-Brown, Nick Pinkerton, Kelli Weston on Zelda Wynn Valdes, Paul Morrissey, and The Sound of David Lynch Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I had fun reading the most recent issue of The Metrograph, the magazine from a cinema I frequent, so for a change from the recent festival dispatches, I sat down with its editors to chat about a few articles that caught my eye. Nick Pinkerton shares his work on the inimitable filmmaker Paul Morrissey; Kelli Weston speaks of fashion designer and costume Zelda Wynn Valdes; and Annabel Brady-Brown talks about Dean Hurley, David Lynch's sound maven and his unsettling contributions to Twin Peaks: The Return. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 374: Sundance 2026 – Eric Hynes on Carousel, One in a Million, Frank and Louis, The Lake, Time and Water Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To wrap up Sundance 2026, I talked with Eric Hynes, director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. We talk a bit about movie theaters, as we often do, and then discuss a few final movies from the lineup: Carousel (Rachel Lambert), One in a Million (Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes), Frank and Louis (Petra Volpe), The Lake (Abby Ellis), and Time and Water (Sara Dosa). Then at the end I round up a couple of fiction films that somehow escaped the pod dragnet, including new films from Macon Blair and Gregg Araki. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 373: Sundance 2026 – Chloe Lizotte on Night Nurse, Homemade Gatorade and other shorts, Public Access Redux, plus A Rotterdam Surprise Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To look at the remote experience of Sundance 2026, I chatted with Chloe Lizotte, deputy editor of MUBI Notebook, for what ended up being a bit of a mindbending tour through cinema's possibilities. Among the Sundance films discussed: Night Nurse (directed by Georgia Bernstein), Homemade Gatorade (Carter Amelia Davis), and Public Access (David Shadrack Smith) and Joy Bubbles (Rachel J. Morrison) from another angle. And for a final twist, we couldn't resist talking about James N. Kienitz Wilkins's newest feature, The Misconceived, freshly premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 372: Sundance 2026 – Amy Taubin on Shame and Money, Bedford Park, Filipinana, Public Access, If I Go Will They Miss Me, Who Killed Alex Odeh, Silenced Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest dispatch on the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I reunited with Amy Taubin, with whom I recorded my first episode at the beginning of the festival. We compared notes on Sundance and what we've each seen, including several films that won awards. Among the films discussed: Shame and Money (directed by Visar Morina), Bedford Park (Stephanie Ahn), Filipiñana (Rafael Manuel), Public Access (David Shadrack Smith), If I Go Will They Miss Me (Walter Thompson-Hernández), Who Killed Alex Odeh? (Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans), Silenced (Selina Miles), Nuisance Bear (Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman), and Once Upon a Time in Harlem (William Greaves and David Greaves). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 371: Sundance 2026 – Siddhant Adlakha on Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, When a Witness Recants, Undertone, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, plus Buddy Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest dispatch on the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I was pleased to connect finally with Siddhant Adlakha, a critic who contributes to several publications including Variety. Among the films discussed were Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! (directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka), When a Witness Recants (Dawn Porter), Undertone (Ian Tuason), Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (Alex Gibney), and Buddy (Casper Kelly). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 370: Simón Mesa Soto on his new film A Poet Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the most delightful break-outs in recent cinema is Simón Mesa Soto's A Poet (Un Poeta), a funny, dynamically shot, and quite touching portrait of a Colombian writer who's stuck, years after his early success. Actor Ubeimar Rios embodies Oscar with an unstoppable, tragicomic energy that pushes back on turning the poet into an object of self-pity in this multilayered film, as he tries to reconnect with his estranged family and encounters a student poet named Yurlady. I spoke with Simón Mesa Soto about both the comedy he embraces and the sincere feeling he achieves in tapping personal experience, as well as some filmmakers whose art and portrayal of artists have inspired him, and how the great Colombian poet José Asunción Silva figures in the film and its making. A Poet is in theaters now. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 369: Sundance 2026 – Abby Sun on Closure, Cookie Queens, To Hold a Mountain, Seized Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival rolled out another promising lineup of documentary in its 2026 edition, and so I rang up Abby Sun, editor-in-chief of Documentary Magazine, to chat about a few of the notable titles she had seen. Titles discussed include Closure (directed by Michal Marczak of All These Sleepless Nights), Cookie Queens (Alysa Nahmias), To Hold a Mountain (Petar Glomazic and Biljana Tutorov), and Seized (Sharon Liese, about the 2023 police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 368: Sundance 2026 – Tim Grierson on The Invite, The Weight, The Friend's House Is Here, plus All About the Money Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is in progress, and I sat down in Park City with festival veteran Tim Grierson who is filing reviews for Screen Daily and is also a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. We spoke about a few highlights of the lineup so far, including The Invite (directed by Olivia Wilde, starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Ed Norton, and Wilde), The Weight (directed by Padraic McKinley, starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe), The Friend's House Is Here (directed by Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz), and a curious documentary I caught called All About the Money (Sinead O'Shead) about the communism-curious scion of a billionaire family fortune. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 367: Sundance 2026 – Sam Adams on Josephine, Wicker, The Moment, Kogonada's Zi Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is in progress, and I sat down in Park City with festival veteran Sam Adams, Slate writer and senior editor, to talk about a few highlights of the lineup so far. Among the films discussed are The Moment (directed by Aidan Zamiri, starring Charli xcx), Josephine (Beth de Araujo, starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan), Wicker (Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård), and, briefly, Kogonada's briefly titled new film, zi. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 366: Sundance 2026 - Amy Taubin on the festival, plus a preview of John Wilson's The History of Concrete Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival begins its 2026 edition, and to kick off its final, I took a look back with Amy Taubin, a Sundance veteran who has written about the festival's films and evolution over decades. She shares her thoughts on Sundance, past and present, and we trade notes on titles in this edition whose premieres we have been anticipating, including the historic Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Finally, I talk about one festival highlight premiering on opening night, The History of Concrete, directed by John Wilson (of HBO's “How to With John Wilson” fame), and Taubin reflects on the history of Sundance's vaunted Main Street. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 365: Chicago Film Society's Rebecca Lyon and Cameron Worden on The Unholy Three, Heather McAdams, Bob Balaban's Parents, Proto-Beavis and Butthead, By the Bluest Sea Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Chicago Film Society screens wonderful seasons of features and shorts at Chicago theaters, carefully curated with printed program notes, all of which I've enjoyed from afar. I was delighted to kick off another new year of the podcast with two CFS members (and projectionists): Rebecca Lyon and Cameron Worden. Since the Chicago Film Society is between its Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 seasons, we talked about some past programming, including: The Unholy Three (the 1930 sound version), Parents (directed by Bob Balaban), ephemera collected by filmmaker Heather McAdams, home movies from the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago, and Wes Archer's extraordinary animated short that prefigured Beavis and Butt-head. Bonus: a sneak peek at a couple of events coming up at Chicago Film Society in the spring. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 364: Live at Metrograph! Mark Asch on Eight Hours of Terror, Marty Supreme, Ella McCay, The Bridesmaid, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On a recent wintry night, I was delighted to record a very special episode of the podcast at Metrograph in front of a living, breathing audience. Joining me for this adventure was critic Mark Asch, a friend of the pod and my editor many years ago. We first talked about the movie that the audience had just watched, Seijun Suzuki's Eight Hours of Terror, a 1957 treat plucked from a previous conversation on The Last Thing I Saw. Our discussion first followed our Lower East Side setting by starting with Marty Supreme (directed by Josh Safdie) and then onto other December films, including The Bridesmaid (Paul Feig) and Ella McCay (James L. Brooks). Thank you to Metrograph and their devoted team for all their assistance and hospitality in hosting this special recording of The Last Thing I Saw. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 363: Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman on 2025 in movies: The Testament of Ann Lee, Sinners, Dracula, Bugonia, Eddington, Hamnet, and much more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For a look at the films of 2025, I'm happy to welcome back two critics who have joined the podcast together before: Adam Nayman (The Ringer) and Beatrice Loayza (The New York Times, The Nation, Criterion Collection). Among the films discussed are The Testament of Ann Lee, Eddington, Afternoons of Solitude, Hamnet, Sinners, Dracula, The Housemaid, Sirat, the latest Avatar installment, One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, and... The Electric State. Plus: Adam and Beatrice's picks for overlooked movies deserving of a second (or first) look. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 362: Bruce Bennett on Charley Varrick, The American Revolution, Technicolor Weekend at Chicago Film Society, The Shootist Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I'm happy to welcome back series regular Bruce Bennett for our latest debrief. Among the films he brings to the show are longtime favorite Charley Varrick (directed by Don Siegel, subject of a retrospective most recently at Metrograph); The American Revolution (directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt); and The Shootist (Siegel again, starring John Wayne in swan song mode). Bennett also talks about the wondrous annual Technicolor Weekend at Chicago Film Society. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 361: Amy Taubin on Richard Linklater's Fall Doubleheader, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent, Mr. Scorsese, Cover-Up, BLKNWS, Kontinental '25 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the week of Thanksgiving begins, I give thanks for... Amy Taubin! She returns to The Last Thing I Saw to discuss some new releases, including key titles that have been making their way into theaters after screening in The New York Film Festival and elsewhere. Titles addressed by Taubin include: Richard Linklater's double triumph of Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon; It Was Just an Accident, from Jafar Panahi; The Secret Agent, from Kleber Mendonça Filho; Rebecca Miller's streaming series Mr. Scorsese; Kahlil Joseph's BLKNEWS: Terms & Conditions; Kontinental '25 from Radu Jude; the Seymour Hersh documentary Cover-Up, from Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus; and memories from the NYFF secret screening of Marty Supreme. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 360: Abby Sun on IDFA 2025: A Fox Under the Pink Moon, December, Silent Flood, The Kartli Kingdom, Air Horse One Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In November I make my annual visit to the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and for the 2025 edition, I sat down again with Abby Sun, editor of Documentary Magazine. Among the movies we talked about were A Fox Under the Pink Moon (directors by Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya), December (Lucas Gallo), Silent Flood (Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk), The Kartli Kingdom (Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel), and the short Air Horse One (Lasse Linder). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 359: Ira Sachs on Peter Hujar's Day Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I spoke with filmmaker Ira Sachs about his latest movie, Peter Hujar's Day. It's a fascinating chronicle of a 1974 conversation between New York photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, whose asks Hujar to recount a day in his life in great detail, including visits by friends, an encounter with Allen Ginsberg (whom The New York Times assigned him to photograph for a portrait), Chinese food orders, and much else. Based on actual transcripts, it's a beautiful demonstration of craft—the actors', and the photographer and writer they play. Sachs talked about making the film with Whishaw and Hall, the apartment they shot in, the directors whose work inspired him, and the new movie he has been shooting. Peter Hujar's Day is in theaters now. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass